This invention relates generally to financial transactions and more particularly to transactions involving credit or debit cards.
The time is fast approaching where a significant amount of commerce will be conducted using distributed networks of computers such as the Internet. The reason this ground-swell of commerce will occur is the ability of a single merchant to economically reach a vast number of potential customers at substantially no costs. Further, the customers are able to review a great number of vendors and their products with the ease of a few key strokes and clicks of the mouse.
Although there are vast numbers of merchants already using such networks, the sales volume has been particularly low due to a variety of reasons. One reason which has depressed commerce on the networks, is the difficulty with which customers can pay for their purchases.
A variety of techniques have been developed to cure this problem ranging from accepting phone orders to the establishment of another currency called xe2x80x9cE-Cashxe2x80x9d.
Phone orders in response to merchant promotional materials creates a variety of problems. One major problem is the requirements for phone lines and personnel to receive and process the phone orders. Another hurdle is the simple fact that most customers have a single phone line to their residence and this line is used by the computer for accessing the network; the customer has to disconnect from the network to make the phone order.
Although E-Cash is a viable alternative, it is faced with some enormous problems which will be difficult or impossible to address. These include: counterfeiting problems, government reluctance to accept the concept; difficulties in getting access for handling E-Cash; and, the low number of users and merchants which can use E-Cash.
It is clear from the foregoing that there is a need for an efficient methodology and system to accept payment over distributed computer networks.
The present invention contemplates a totally automated system for securing payment via a distributed network of computers. In this context, the invention creates an automated payment system particularly suited for purchases over a network such as the Internet.
Although the present invention is described relative to the Internet, its application is not so limited and is intended to be used on any distributed computer system in which merchants and consumers interact for the purpose of supplying and purchasing goods or services.
In such a distributed computer network, a merchant or vending computer contains certain promotional information which is communicated to a customer""s computer. This information is intended to give the customer sufficient information to make a decision on if the goods/services are acceptable.
As used within this discussion, the term xe2x80x9cmerchant computerxe2x80x9d signifies a computer system which is used for the purpose of selling goods or services. The vendor itself does not necessarily own the computer, in some situations, the computer is operated on behalf of the merchant or vendor.
Based upon the promotional information, the consumer/operator of the customer""s computer decides to purchase the services or goods described by the promotional information.
It is at this point where the present invention is particularly powerful as it provides a simple, easy, methodology and linkage for the customer to pay for the goods/services.
In this context, the customer""s computer is linked to a payment processing computer and the customer""s credit card number and the amount of the goods or services is transmitted to the payment processing computer. For security reasons, an encrypting software package is first downloaded to the customer""s computer so that the credit card number is secure from xe2x80x9chackersxe2x80x9d who might also be on the network.
Although the term xe2x80x9ccredit cardxe2x80x9d is used, the invention covers the use of any type of financial guarantee card such as automatic debit accounts, checking account numbers, savings account numbers, and other such devices obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art.
The payment processing computer automatically contacts a bank for verification of the credit card and amount; the bank transmits an authorization to the payment processing computer. This authorization, usually in the form of a number, is stored within the payment processing computer""s memory for later reference.
The link or connection with the bank is terminated by the payment processing computer and the payment processing computer turns its attention to the customer""s computer. The payment processing computer communicates a self-generated transaction indicia, and in some embodiments a password, to the customer""s computer.
The transaction indicia is generated by the payment processing computer for proper record keeping. The transaction indicia is also used by the customer to verify that an order has been generated and accepted.
The password is defined by the merchant""s computer for the payment processing computer to pass along to the customer""s computer. The password is used by the customer""s computer to gain access to restricted material within the merchant""s computer.
As example, assume the merchant""s computer is supplying information as to genealogy. As an initial process, the customer enters the name being researched and receives a preliminary report on the genealogy (the promotional material). To proceed though, and get the actual data, the customer must pay to access this further information.
To do so, the customer links with the payment processing computer, and in the manner outlined above, receives back the transaction indicia and the password. The payment processing computer links the customer computer back to the merchant computer; the customer provides the password to the merchant""s computer and is given access to the full genealogy report.
As outlined in this example, in the embodiment where a password is used, the customer""s computer uses the password with the merchant""s computer in obtaining access to protected information or to establish shipping instructions.
The re-linking of the customer computer to the merchant computer is accomplished in a variety of ways. In the preferred embodiment, the payment processing computer obtains the merchant""s address or Unique Recognition Location (URL) from the customer computer when the customer connects with the payment processing computer. This URL is used in a variety of ways, to identify the merchant, to establish the amount of the product/service, and to establish the return URL when the payment processing computer is done with its task for the customer computer.
By selective use of the URL on the merchant""s part, the URL transmits a tremendous amount of information to the payment processing computer. As example, assume the URL for the home-page of the merchant is: /merchant.com/widget.
When the merchant is selling a single product (a widget), this URL is easy to match to the product. When the merchant wants to sell a variety of widgets, then for a blue widget, the URL might be: merchant.com/widget/blue.
In some embodiments, the customer""s computer is not linked back to the originating URL of the Merchant computer but rather to another URL. The return URL is stored in the payment processing computer and is used when the Merchant wants the customer/consumer to be passed back to a different location (i.e. where the restricted access information is accessible, or to inform the consumer that their card has been rejected).
The invention, together with various embodiments thereof, will be more fully explained by the accompanying drawings and the following descriptions.